Surgical gowns are utilized by health care professionals to protect themselves from exposure to fluids and micro-organisms during a surgical procedure. The surgical gown also minimizes contamination of the patient by the health care professional. As such, the health care professionals must keep their hands and arms within a sterile field. The traditional sterile field is the ventral side of the health care professional from approximately the chest or nipple line to the waist. The traditional sterile field also encompasses the area from approximately the elbows to the fingertips.
Currently, surgical gowns are designed with a front portion that covers the front and extends towards the back into back flaps to cover the back. The back flaps traditionally have ties at the neck area and the waist area to secure the surgical gown around the neck and waist. Tying the ties of a traditional gown, however, requires exposure of the hands to an environment outside the sterile field. As such, an assistant is needed to secure a surgical gown around a health care professional in order to keep the health care professional's hands in the sterile field. The assistant is usually unsterilized, which can lead to contamination of parts of the surgical gown and limits the sterile surgical field. Such contamination and limitations increase the patient's risk of surgical infection.
To eliminate the use of an assistant, self-donning gowns have been designed to bring the ties inside the traditional sterile field. In other words, to bring the fastening mechanism to the front. This, however, results in complicated tie structures that do not facilitate readjustment of the gown. In addition, having the fastening mechanisms in the front that could potentially catch instruments and may interfere with the surgical procedure.
Thus, a self-donning surgical gown is needed that is easily donned and easily readjusted and will not interfere with surgical procedures.